Humility

I got to thinking about something last week......

Humility. Great word. Not always so easy to accomplish.

Right after World War II, a U.S. Army officer and his wife were stationed in Japan. That country had been devastated by the war. The post-war economy was in shambles. Unemployment approached 60%.

People came to the Army wife's door daily looking for work. One man said that he could do wonders for her garden if she would only give him a chance.

So, for the first time in her life, this young Army wife hired a gardener. He spoke no English, but the wife, through sign language and pencil and paper gave him instructions about where to plant, prune, and pamper her garden. He listened politely and followed her instructions exactly. The garden emerged as the finest in the neighborhood.

When she finally realized that her new gardener knew far more about the matter than she, the wife stopped giving him directions and let him freely care for the garden. It was magnificent.

Then one day the gardener came with an interpreter who expressed the appreciation but the regrets of the gardener. "He will no longer be able to care for your garden. He must leave."
The wife expressed her regrets and thanked him through the interpreter for making hers such a fine garden. Out of politeness, she asked the interpreter, "Where is he going?"

The interpreter replied that the gardener was returning to his old job as the Professor of Horticulture at the University of Tokyo.

Humility.

My observations have told me that many people avoid humility because they believe it will lead to humiliation. Did you know that the exact opposite is true?

In the Old Testament, Job 5:11 says, “He [God] makes the humble person important...” And in the New Testament, James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

See, it isn’t humility that causes people problems, it’s pride. Pride keeps us from so many things.....things that would be such a blessing to others and ourselves if we would just take that step of humility.

I encourage you to do a little self-examination today. You can only use one of two words to describe yourself: proud or humble. Which one is you? And if you look honestly and discover it’s “proud”, begin to work toward humility. You, and many others, will be glad (and blessed) that you did!